


once more to see you

by burnshoney



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, F/F, Goodbyes, Missing Scene, Mutual Pining, RWBY Volume 8 Spoilers, WE WERE ROBBED OF THE BUMBLEBY GOODBYE AND I'LL D!E ON THIS HILL IDK
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27438175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burnshoney/pseuds/burnshoney
Summary: Yang’s already left, pushing open the doors to the Huntress’ hideout with Pietro’s keys in hand for the pharmacy, and Blake’s never felt more tethered to her than the tug in her gut to follow.So follow she does; it's all she can do right now.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 19
Kudos: 141





	once more to see you

**Author's Note:**

> I CAN'T BELIEVE RWBY VOL8 WAS SO POWERFUL IT MANIFESTED JOE BIDEN BECOMING PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (/j) G O D FOR ONCE MY STATE DID SOMETHING RIGHT!! SHOUTOUT TO PA I'M SHAKING RN
> 
> title from mitski bc my girlfriend is a mitski hoe and i love her

They fall apart quickly after that — Blake catches the hurt undertones in Ren’s voice as he says Nora’s name and she bites back a response about saving Mantle because she believes in Ruby’s plan. Yang’s already left, pushing open the doors to the Huntress’ hideout with Pietro’s keys in hand for the pharmacy, and Blake’s never felt more tethered to her than the tug in her gut to follow.

So follow she does. 

Weiss eyes her as she passes to follow Yang and Blake purses her lips, nods. Without a word, Weiss nods back before joining Nora and Ruby in the middle of the room. It’s both the most and least she can do; follow Yang, because she knows where she’s needed and where she’s _wanted_ most. Knows they’re two very different places. She can only hope Yang understands.

Yang hasn’t gone very far. With the heat still off in Mantle, they’ve all dressed in warmer layers where they can; Yang’s jacket is bulkier on her shoulders, comes further down her wrists in preparation for the time she’s going to spend in the tundra. Blake is not so lucky — she shivers as she joins Yang in the small alcove that has them still hidden from the cameras but gives an unhindered view of the street. For now, the street is barren of both civilians _and_ Grimm but Blake knows the peace won’t last long. 

Her breath comes in small clouds as she opens her mouth to speak but Yang breaks the silence first. Her shoulders sag. “I shouldn’t have said that to Ruby.”

Blake bites at her cheek. Snow is still falling, blanketing every surface in soft white piles and she catches the few flakes that cling to Yang’s wild hair, her jacket, even the tips of her eyelashes. 

“She knows you didn’t mean it,” Blake murmurs and sets her hand on Yang’s shoulder after a heartbeat. How is she this close, but feeling so far away? “We’re all just...stressed, you’ll see. It’ll be fine.”

“Will it?”

Blake closes her eyes. “I have to believe it will be,” she whispers and the lie feels thick against her tongue. What she wants to believe and what she’s fearful is going to happen are weighty opposites in her mind. “Because I don’t know what to do if it isn’t.”

Silence falls between them again. Inside the abandoned bar the Huntresses have made their base, a chair scrapes against the tiled floor. Then—

“Blake.”

She opens her eyes with a shiver. Yang has half-turned from staring out at the streets stubbornly to gazing at her with the same look in her eye Blake has seen so many times and still not puzzled out the meaning of. She knows what she wants the look to mean but hasn’t dared to let herself hope. Yang sets her own hand atop Blake’s on her shoulder. “You’re going with Ruby, aren’t you,” she murmurs and there’s no question in the line of her set mouth.

It almost hurts more, the knowing. 

Blake chokes back some noise that threatens to spill out of her mouth. “I have to believe,” she breathes out in lieu of answering, “I have to believe in our leader. If this is what she thinks is best, I have to trust her. And you don’t need me down here anyway. I’m too recognizable.”

The excuse is weak and they both know it. Yang’s face is drawn in heartbreak. “Blake,” she murmurs again and Blake pitches forward, sliding her hand from Yang’s shoulder to instead wrap her arms around her neck in a fierce hug. 

She buries her face in Yang’s shoulder, reassured in the way Yang’s arms don’t hesitate to encircle her back. There are so few consistencies in their lives right now and she’s grateful that Yang’s willingness to hold her hasn’t changed — that her touch has stayed the same. Yang has always been grounding, warm. Solid. _Hers._

Though it almost hurts to, Blake pulls away first. She rocks back from her tiptoes to her heels, searching Yang’s eyes the same way Yang searches hers. What does she see there, Blake wonders and watches the way her lips part slightly before closing again, what does she want to say?

But this isn’t the time nor the place, and they both know it. This moment they’ve carved out together is coming to a close by the sounds from inside the bar as their team moves around, getting ready to head out. They only have limited time left before they’re both pulled away.

She knows they’re both thinking of how they haven’t left the other’s side since that fateful day at the cliffs, the waterfall spray on their skin, shaking as they knelt and held each other, a vow on Blake’s lips as Yang pressed her forehead to her own. _I’m not gonna break my promise. I swear._

_I know you won’t._

Is she breaking that promise now? To stay by Yang’s side, to be there for her? 

“Hey,” Yang says and Blake blinks, focusing back on her partner. As if Yang knows what she’s thinking, she’s pressed Blake’s cold hand between the warm two of her own — prosthetic and all — as a small smile dances across her lips. “Hey, look at me. You’re not leaving me, you’re not breaking your promise. I know that.”

Blake’s exhale is shaky and a parallel to that day, Yang knocks their foreheads together as she squeezes Blake’s hand, still searching her eyes. “I know that,” she repeats, firm, “and you should too. We have to do this but we’ll see each other again. You said you have to believe in Ruby; well I have to believe _that_.”

“Come back to me,” Blake pleads, “I promised I would stay by your side but promise me now you’ll come back.”

It’s stupid, and fruitless, and impossible. They both know it. Nothing is certain right now, everything is up in the air and volatile, but Yang just nods and brings Blake’s hand to her mouth. She presses her lips gently to her knuckles. “I promise,” Yang murmurs and Blake closes her eyes.

Before she can lose her nerve Blake pushes up on her tiptoes and brushes her own lips quickly across the curve of Yang’s cheek. Yang’s skin is warm and when Blake pulls back both her cheeks are flushed in a way they both know aren’t from the cold. Eyes wide, Yang’s fingers trace the spot on her face Blake’s lips just were as Blake offers her a small smile. 

“Good.”

Yang is opening her mouth, eyebrows high on her forehead when the doors behind them open and she snaps it shut. Blake’s ears flatten as voices reach their ears and Blake steps back as their bubble is popped. Their connected hands fall between them; they’re out of time to say goodbye. Yang squeezes her hand again as Ren passes them followed by Oscar. 

“Yang? You ready?” Jaune stands behind them, holding the door for a moment before letting it swing closed and Yang finds her eyes again wordlessly. “We’re heading out.”

Blake nods once. “Stay safe,” she says softly as Yang steps back and their hands fall apart.

She catches the way Yang’s hand flexes around empty air before finding her eyes again. Checking her gauntlets, zipping her jacket all the way to her neck, Yang schools her surprise into a cocky half-smirk for show for the boys. 

“Always am. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Yeah,” Blake whispers as she watches Yang step into the street, “see you soon.”

Yang throws her a lazy salute paired with a wink before she’s jogging down the sidewalk after Ren, Jaune, and Oscar. Blake watches until they disappear around the corner and doesn’t startle when Weiss’ hand rests between her shoulder blades. “You alright?”

 _We’ll see each other again,_ Yang’s voice echoes, _I promise._ Blake squares her shoulders, turns.

“Let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> COME YELL WITH ME ON MY TWITTER @ EMBERSCELlCA ABOUT THAT EPISODE BC HOLY SHIT THERE'S SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE


End file.
